Policies

Public Hearings on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)

WHEREAS the Trans Pacific Partnership [trade] Agreement (TPP), signed but not yet ratified by Canada, sets binding rules for regulating commerce between its 12 member countries in the 21st century;

WHEREAS concerns about the TPP publicly expressed in Canada include the following:

climate change is not mentioned in the TPP’s more than 6000 pages, and its provisions may restrict what the federal and provincial governments can do to meet Canada’s international obligations to reduce carbon emissions;

enforcement of the TPP’s environmental and labour chapters would be virtually impossible;

a Canada – US side deal on eventual mutual standards for dairy products will lead to bovine growth hormone in our milk, which is banned in the EU, and has never been allowed in Canada;

the previous government offered compensation packages to the auto and dairy sectors for the losses they are expected to suffer;

new patent rules will lock in exorbitant prescription drug prices in Canada, and make life-saving medicine unaffordable in other TPP countries.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada urge the Government of Canada, working with the provinces and territories, to undertake a pan-Canadian consultation on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) by conducting public hearings across the country before parliamentary consideration of its ratification.